Climbing To The Top

Climbing To The Top

Josie Temple, Ranger Review Reporter

Did you know our school has a Rock Climbing club? The club is coached by Mr. Long, who also teaches English, Social Studies, and Physical Education classes. In addition to providing lessons, the club also takes part in The club’s latest competition was held at City Rock, located at 21 N Nevada Ave.

Each wall that is a part of the competition is ranked on a scale of 1 to 20, with 1 being the easiest and 20 being the hardest. There are many different styles of climbing such as “top ropes”, which go from the floor to the ceiling and are ranked at a 1. There is also ‘bouldering’, which is when you climb over a shorter wall without a harness.

Meetings usually begin at around 3:30 with stretches and warm-ups. They often discuss plans and strategies for the competitions. Then, climbers go off and climb anywhere around the gym. If they have any questions, they can always ask Mr. Long or the employees who work at City Rock.

Lewis-Palmer’s best climber, with a finishing score of 5130, was Gabriel Sampayo in 32nd place out of the total number of climbers. Our second best climber, with a score of 4518, was Cooper Shuman in 34th place. Also from Lewis-Palmer, with a score of 3608, was Aaron Crocker in 36th place.

Danielle Ranisate, 9, joined Rock Climbing club at the beginning of the semester. She says Coach Long is a very good mentor and he can help you even if you’ve never climbed before. Ranisate plans to compete in the upcoming competition held on December 10th.

Ranisate stated “Even if you don’t win, it’s still really fun to climb around the gym.”

Cooper Shuman, 10, has been a part of the club for a year and a half. He plans to compete in the upcoming competition, but he wishes more people came to climb and support the school. He thinks Coach Long isn’t a very good coach.

Shuman says “Coach Long doesn’t really know what he’s talking about when it comes to rock climbing, and he isn’t very supportive to the team.”

Rock Climbing club meets Mondays from 3:30-5:30. Our school does not charge anything to participants, however City Rock offers discounted memberships for members of our club at a price of $175/semester. State Finals will be held on February 21 for those interested.